Nov. 7 Legislative Elections In Senegal: Former President, MACKY SALL, Is Back In The Political Terrain As Leader Of Opposition Coalition

Prime Minister OUSMANE SONKO, is leading the campaign of the ruling movement’s coalition

Barely six months after leaving the Office of President of the Republic of Senegal,  Macky Sall, bounced back to the political terrain last weekend to lead  a big coalition of opposition parties  in the campaign for the November 17, 2024 Legislative Election in that West African Country.

It would be recalled that after serving as President of Senegal for he maximum of two mandates of five years each, as fixed by the Constitution of the country, President Macky Sall attempted to modify the Constitution as happen in most African countries, to run for a third mandate. The Senegalese people resisted. He then tried to extent the second and last mandate by a couple of months. Again, the Senegalese people resisted, with the Constitutional Council making bold to tell President Macky Sall, that he did not have powers to extent the duration of a mandate, which must not go beyond five years.  The Constitutional Council in Senegal showed itself as a strong institution, in defense of the country’s Constitution.  As former US President, Barack Obama, rightly said, what Africa countries need are strong institutions, and not strongmen,

Ousmane Sonko –  Bassirou Diomaye Faye  

Meanwhile President Macky Sall respected the decision of the Constitutional Council of Senegal, and scheduled the presidential election for March 24, 2024.  The most popular opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko, could not be candidate in the election, because of a controversial imprisonment sentence that was slammed on him by the court on fake charges, in what was clearly a political decision  influenced  by the  then Government of Macky Sall.  The Constitution of Senegal stated that, anybody who had been sentenced to more than six months, of imprisonment, could not be a candidate in the presidential election. So Ousmane Sonko, designated his faithful and youthful Deputy President of their political movement, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, as presidential candidate in his place.

Suffice to say that Sonko and Diomaye Faye spectacularly won the March 24, 2024 presidential Election in Senegal in the first round. The candidate of the ruling party was floored.  The outgoing President of Senegal, Macky Sall, demonstrated his political maturity by not only accepting the verdict of the polls, but by also  sending a message t to congratulate the President –elect,   Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who turned 40 a day after the presidential election. Macky Sall went on to organize a peaceful and smooth transition of power, and 40 years  Bassirou Diomaye Faye, a tax inspector by training, was sworn–in as the new President of  Senegal.  President Diomaye Faye   immediately went on to appoint his political mentor and big brother, Ousmane Sonko, as Prime Minister and Head of Government of Senegal.

Macky Sall Complains Against New Leaders Of Senegal  

After leaving the Presidency, Macky Sall did not leave Senegal to go stay in another country or to go on exile. He stayed on in Senegal, accepting that there is life after the Presidency. He however was not active in politics again, and some people thought that he might retire from active politics as his predecessors, Abdou Diof and Abdoulaye Wade did after leaving the presidency. But it should be noted that Macky Sall is still young, as compared to his predecessors who were already old men by the time they left power.

Meanwhile former President Macky Sall is known to have publicly complained a couple of weeks ago, that the new leaders of the country (President Diomaye Faye and Prime Minister Sonko), whose names he did not mention, have deprived him of the benefits that a former President is officially entitled to.  It is not known whether the new leaders of the country that he referred to, reacted to his complaint. But it would be recalled that a couple of days  after he left power, the new President of Senegal,  Diomaye Faye, authorized the outgone President, Macky Sall, to use the presidential plane for a trip to Saudi Arabia, apparently for a medical checkup.

Two Former Ruling Parties, And Former Archrivals, Are Now Allies  

Meanwhile ahead of the crucial legislative elections in Senegal, there had been increasing speculations in the country that Macky Sall could return to active politics, as militants of his party, made repeated calls for him to return to politics. Suffice to say six months (April – October 2024) after leaving power, Macky Sall was back into active politics last weekend in Senegal, to launch and lead the campaign of a coalition of opposition parties, for the November 17, 2024 Legislative Elections in the country. Interestingly enough, there are two former ruling parties in the big coalition of opposition parties. These are Macky Sall’s party, and the party of former President Abdoulaye Wade, who is however no longer active in politics.

It would be recalled  some 10 years ago,   the two  parties were more of enemies, after Macky Sall’s won the presidential election, He beat  the candidate of the then ruling party of outgoing President Abdoulaye Wade, at that presidential election.   Today the two parties are in the opposition, and can now afford to work as allies, with their common ‘enemy’ being the ruling movement of Ousmane Sonko and Diomaye Faye.  As is said, in politics, there is no permanent enemy, there is permanent interest.

Ousmane Sonko Leads Campaign

Meanwhile, another big coalition for the November 17, 2024 Legislative Election in Senegal, is created around the political movement of Ousmane Sonko and Diomaye Faye.  The coalition is led in the legislative election campaign by Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko; a political heavy weight to match the other political heavy weight, Macky Sall, who is leading the opposition coalition. Campaigns for the legislative elections in Senegal officially opened last weekend.  While Macky Sall launched the campaign of the opposition coalition, Ousmane Sonko launched the campaign of the coalition around the ruling movement. There is another coalition, though comparatively a bit smaller, for the November 17 legislative elections in Senegal, led by the Mayor of Dakar. The Mayor of the capital city, Dakar, is of course no small man in Senegal.

Meanwhile the presence of the three powerful men, that is former President Macky Sall, Prime Minister  Ousmane Sonko, and the  Mayor of Dakar in the legislative elections as leaders of coalitions, have given another dimension to the 2024 legislative elections in Senegal. There is a lot of excitement and anxiety in the air in Senegal, over the November 17, 2024 Legislative Elections. Prime Minister Ousmane  Sonko, says the new Government so  much needs a majority in parliament, to be able to push through their reform and development programmes and projects. New opposition leader, Macky Sall, says there is need for an opposition majority in parliament, to be able to effectively check and control government action.

Worthy of note that the Senegalese Parliament, that is the National Assembly, has 165 seats. Also worth noting that when  he was President of Senegal, Macky Sall shutdown the country’s Senate> He said the Senate was of no real use to the country, and that was a waste of the country’s financial resources, which should be directed to development projects in the country. It was a popular decision in Senegal.

Senegal’s Leadership In Democracy In Africa  

Meanwhile, once more Senegal is portraying itself as one of the indisputable leaders of democracy in Africa, and why not beyond. A former President of the Republic, Macky Sall, now playing the role of opposition leader!  Great Man, Great Mentality.  This is something that Africans have been seeing only in advanced democracies like in the United Kingdom.

One of  the biggest problems holding back the growth of democracy in Africa, is that most of the leaders (Presidents or Heads Of States),  never imagine a situation where the person can one day leave the Presidency and get  into the opposition. In their minds, that is more of an abomination. It is the same thing for ruling parties.  In Cameroon for example, the leaders and militants of the ruling CPDM tend to think that the party was created to rule, and cannot imagine a scenario where the CPDM can  become an opposition party. Undemocratic mentality!  And that is why the country is where it is today. So bad!